Dick gets up wordlessly one night after they eat. He could be going to the bathroom. There's no ceremony or anything to it. But he comes back holding Jerel's - slightly modified and updated, as a present - Bodyshock outfit.

For a moment, all Jerel can do is stare. Then he jumps up out of his seat and grabs the suit before Dick can change his mind. "What took you so long, hot lips?" The suit runs over his hands like water--it feels better than it ever did, practically glowing silver-grey and white.

Dick laughs. "Shut up, I had to make sure no-one'd try to take you down. But word is out, your leaf is turned the hell over, and it's time to go out. Lemme get ready and we're gone," he says, leaving again. He pauses at the door and looks at Jerel seriously. "Follow my lead, okay? And when I say don't do something, don't do it. Cool?"

Jerel is already halfway out of his shirt and shoes. "You're the boss, boss," he says, muffled. This is going to be so much more satisfying than sitting and studying about malpractice for the next six hours. He's been jittering out of his skin for weeks, and even though Dick's self-defence training is helping, this will be so much better. He follows Dick as he steps out of his pants and into the legs of the suit. "You seriously been putting the word out about me?"

Dick shrugs, looking over his shoulder to keep talking to Jerel. "Well, yeah. I've had to. There are a lot of heroes that keep an eye on things from afar. So if they see or /hear/ me out there with you, and it looks like I've gone dark-side..."

"You mean Batman. If Batman sees you out with Bodyshock and he doesn't know that Bodyshock's gone straight, it'll look like Nightwing's slumming it," Jerel summarises. He smooths the suit over his legs and checks out the in-built boots, making sure they're up to scratch, before he starts putting his arms in the sleeves.

"'Slumming it' isn't exactly what I'm going for," Dick says matter-of-factly. "Batman knows who you are, who you are to me and how much you mean to me. But, well. If I did go dark-side, let's just say that it wouldn't be the first time that I was - confused. It would scare him, if he weren't totally clear on the matter. And there's Superman to think about. Our eye in the sky."

"I still kind of can't believe that Batman and Superman know who I am," Jerel says. Then he pauses. "Wait, you've gone dark side before? Was this before or after Discowing?" He likes to tease Dick about sequins.

Dick pulls out the Nightwing armour and goes over to Jerel to shove him lightly. "Leave Discowing alone, that was a good look. And, uh. Kind of before and after. Look, I had a tough time finding my own feet." He starts getting dressed, sitting on the bed while he talks and pulls off clothes to be able to fit into the outfit. "Deathwing. That was one of my names. And Renegade." He doesn't sound particularly happy about remember that, or admitting to it. But it's Jerel, and he has to be honest.

(Technically Deathwing was alternate universe but fuck it all, I don't care.)

Jerel seals up the front of his outfit and focuses on moving around the lamp cord, making sure Dick's upgrades haven't messed with what Jerel can do. He doesn't look at Dick, thinking for a moment. "Sounds a hell of a lot more serious than Discowing, that's for sure."

"Well," Jerel says, and dims the light in the room with a grin, "You're not just anything," he purrs. Then he lets the lights flicker back to normal. "What I mean to say is, does that mean the boss is okay with this plan? You and me running around Gotham together?"

Dick zips up the suit and reaches for a couple of domino masks in a hidden compartment in the bedside table. "He wasn't cool with it at first," Dick admits, glossing over just how not cool with it Batman was. "But he got over it. I'm persuasive."

Dick gestures for him to come closer, smiling a little. He presses the domino mask into Jerel's hand and kisses him. "I love you. And I can't wait to see you running out there with me tonight," he murmurs against Jerel's lips. Part of him wants to take the suits back off and spend the night in bed. But he can't; duty plus getting Jerel out for the night. He needs to do both, they both need it. "We'll keep it light, though, okay? If anything gets hairy let me handle it for now. Once we start bumping up your training for a team effort then we can have a little more fun."

(So I'm thinking Hood and X don't know that Bodyshock has changed his tune and just want to take him out?)

"I love you, too," Jerel tells him. "And I trust you. Don't worry. I won't bite off anything more than I can chew. And I'll try not to short out any city blocks. I get the feeling good guys don't do that, right?" He presses his mask to his face and kisses Dick again. Bodyshock loves Dick, too.

(Makes sense. Dick's gone native in Bludhaven--he wouldn't have any idea how to find Hood in Gotham, if he thought it'd even be an issue. Once again, Jason's been left out of the loop.)

"Let's just play it safe and say no for now," Dick grins, pressing his mask on. Nightwing goes to the mirror and fixes his hair into a considerably less Dick Grayson shape. "Good guys sometimes have to do what they can to keep things safe. Might not want to lay down the law, here, only to regret it later." He pulls out his escrima sticks, gives them a twirl, and puts them in the holsters on his back. "Let's do this."

Jerel nearly asks when he graduates to weapons. Then he remembers--he /is/ a weapon. "Yes, sir, Nightwing, sir," Jerel teases, saluting. He's so ready for this. Time to see what it was like on the other side all this time.

Nightwing gestures to the window and pats Bodyshock's ass as he leaves for the night. Once they're on the roofs, Nightwing takes off. He knows that Bodyshock can keep up with him, even after being locked up then cooped up. He's been working out. He's been fighting. He can keep up.

He and his ass can indeed keep up. It's weird to be the one chasing and not the one being chased at first, but he gets used to it as he loses himself in the rhythm of how and when to jump, when to leap, when to fall. He may forget, for a little while, how serious patrol is, as he has a bit of fun being outside.

They probably manage to have fun with it for a while. An hour, an hour and a half. Nightwing is lost in the rhythm of it, too, letting himself fly for a little while. Letting this be for them. Everything changes when the Fire Nation attacked when a gunshot rings out in the night and a block of bricks by Bodyshock's head explode. That was close. Nightwing's body language changes dramatically and he runs to Bodyshock, getting in front of him and backing him into a wall. Overtly protective.

"Scared to show your face, I bet? Have to rely on sharpshooting," Nightwing's smiling. It isn't pretty. "Coward!"

"Who the hell uses guns in Gotham?" Bodyshock gasps. His heartrate is through the fucking roof and he's pretty sure he shorted out the lights in the floor below, jerking back so fast. He drops a hand on Nightwing's arm, which has effectively bracketed him in. "Mama bear, calm your tits."

"Well, duh," the voice says again. It's likely Bodyshock would pick up random tech along with two other people out in the dark. Red X steps forward, gun aimed. "And you're lucky that was a warning shot. Gotta give the hero first dibs." He nods at Nightwing. "But it looks like he's gone down the deep-end, huh. What're we gonna do about that, boss?" He cocks his head back to talk to the Red Hood behind him.

Nightwing growls quietly under his breath. He hates this. This is the opposite of what he wanted. Now he has to deal with his wayward brother when all he wanted was to give Bodyshock a good night out.

Everything comes together in an instant, and Bodyshock--Jerel instantly knows Dick was right. He was older, and not at all soft like he used to be, and Jerel hadn't even known how to recognise people by the feel of their nervous systems when he was that young. But it all comes together anyway: the look of him, the sound, and the feel.

Jerel pushes Dick's arm away, now. He's not going to hide behind Dick for this, not if this is--his heart catches in his throat. This is too important for Jerel to just stand back. He steps forward, his hands spread out to his side to show he means no threat. "Mitz," he says, louder. "Your name is Mitz."

Red Hood shifts forward and looks at Nightwing, measuring if this is some trick on his part. Also measuring his level of angst: if he's gone dark side /again/, Hood should be able to practically taste it in the air, Nightwing pumps it out so strong. But Nightwing's body language doesn't line up with anger or misery or even mischief.

Nightwing lets him go. He watches Hood stalk forward. This is - well. Dick had kind of guessed that this would turn into family drama, but he figured it would be his family drama.

Mitz swallows. He might shake a little, but he gets hold on that. He looks past Bodyshock, looks to Nightwing. "Find out a secret and blab it to everyone, huh?"

"Kid," Dick says, peaceably. "I've never known your name. Not till now. Because if I did, I would've said it a lot sooner."

Something hits home, then, and Mitz uncocks the gun and lowers it. "...fuck," he whispers, looking at Bodyshock. Who is obviously his lost brother. He doesn't know what to do. He takes another step forward, but looks back at the Red Hood for some amount of guidance.

Mitz makes a small movement with his hand, one he's never done to Jay before; he asks him to stand down. He's still moving forward very slowly. He doesn't sound like Red X anymore. He's /very/ quiet and still, oh man, so scared. He doesn't know what to think. "I thought you were dead. I looked for ages but I thought you were dead. I didn't know what to do. I'm really sorry."

"Worst mistake of my life was not taking you with me when I went," Jerel swears. He's fixed on how slow and careful Mitz is moving toward him, like Jerel's some wild animal Mitz is trying not to scare away. "Or maybe not sticking around for you. Regretted it every minute of every day." He tosses caution to the wind and launches himself at Mitz, totally uncaring of the gun.

Hood stops when Mitz asks him to, folding his arms over his chest. He'll hold his tongue for the moment.

Dick takes a step forward, paranoid and hyper-aware of the guns and other weapons that are in this one spot due to them all being there. He doesn't stop Jerel. It's more he startles slightly. He takes a breath and goes back to watching Jason.

Mitz holds onto Jerel with one hand, the other gripping the gun and still having it pointed to the ground. He's definitely shaking, a fine tremor going through his body. "I'm just, I'm sorry. I should've, but I couldn't, and I just - I should have found you and --" he cuts himself off and hugs, tight, like he's not going to get a chance again.

Jerel practically wraps himself around Mitz, clutching at him. "There's no way you could've found me, I hid--I didn't want Helen to find me, so I made it hard for anyone to find me, god, I'm so fucking sorry. /I/ should've tried to find /you/. I didn't even know you'd run away 'til a couple of years ago and I couldn't find you, then," because I was in prison. "God, Mitzy, I've missed you so fucking much."

Hood is totally fixed on the tearful reunion going on. He's really fucking glad no one can see under his mask because his face is twisted up something ugly. This is what he never got and he doesn't know how to feel. Something in him is happy for Mitz, god knows the kid deserves some kinda happiness, but most of him is angry and bitter. He's practically stone as he stands and watches them.

Mitz shakes his head. "No, no, no, no, I get it, it was horrible, you needed out, I know," he says quickly. Forgiving Jerel of anything, at this point. "I really know. I, I left - it was a little after you because it was, uh, hard and I travelled here because you said...yeah, so, I couldn't find you, I'm sorry, but it's okay because," he pulls from the hug a little and holsters his gun, turning to Hood without really letting go of Jerel. "I found the Hood and he looked after me, so it's cool, I'm fine, you're fine and you're --" He stops and his face falls, looking back to Jerel. "You're Bodyshock."

Nightwing pushes away from the wall beside him and steps forward properly, this time. He was wondering when /the other/ penny would drop. Hood and X aren't the most forgiving when it comes to criminals.

"I was headed for Gotham but I never made it there," Jerel says, trying to get his story out as quick and short as possible. His hands tighten in Mitz's jacket, trying to hold onto him. "Ran out of money. I got to Bludhaven and yeah, I was bad for a while, I--stole shit, lots of things, and got caught and went to prison but I'm not like that now," he says forcefully. "I went to prison but I got my GED and I'm at college now and I'm not a criminal anymore, I'm--"

Hood snorts. "Trustworthy," he says. "Like all the other thieves we know," he adds, hoping that'll twig Mitz--it's Mitz, after all, who's so tightly involved with Catlad. He knows what thieves are like. They'll say anything to get out of a bind.

Mitz twitches and takes a step back towards Hood. "I - I think, because we," Mitz shakes his head. "I mean that we can't, we don't -- fraternise with criminals. But," he turns around completely, looks at the Red Hood. "But he's running with heroes. He says he's going clean." He hangs his head a little, already guessing the answer and heartbroken. "Maybe he's different."

Nightwing puts a hand on the small of Jerel's back, hoping to be steadying and solid and /there/ for him. He looks at Hood, tilting his head. He really hopes this works out.

Jerel's stomach is seizing up. No, /no/, he can't have come this far, done this much, to have /Mitz/ condemn him--/kill/ him. His own face is heartbroken. "You--" He chokes on his words. "You have to do what you have to do. But--I'm not /going/ clean. I've gone clean. I did my time. I got out. I had the support I needed to clean up my act and start again, be better."

Red Hood looks at Mitz for a long, /long/ moment. He knows the call he'd make, and he's on the verge of ordering Mitz around, of telling him what to do. But that lost look on Mitz's face--if Mitz wants to be out on his own one day, he can't look like that. "It's your call, X."

Nightwing stands close to Jerel's back at this stage. He wants to pull him close and hold on, do /something/ to help. "Whatever happens, Hood," he speaks up, his tone final. "We walk away tonight. This can be settled another time if needed."

Jerel's heart clenches when Mitz snarls, and he's suddenly wary of the gun at Mitz's side again. He's so absolutely terrified right now--for himself, yeah, but he's also worried about what it would do to Mitz, if he were to kill his own brother. When Mitz apologises to Hood, Jerel lets himself take a breath.

Mitz nods, takes a second to breathe, and looks at Jerel. He steps forward, though he's noticeably unsure about Nightwing at Jerel's back. "I think that there needs to be trust established. Does that make sense? Anyone can say they've gone clean. Anyone. And it doesn't mean anything," he frowns. "So - so, I think it would be best to take this slow. ...I /am/ happy to see you. I thought - well, you know. But I'm going home tonight. Hood is my brother, too. I'm going with him," he's speaking slowly, like he's expecting to get interrupted. Considering the situation, though, he's being as level-headed and confident as he can be. "We know where /he/ lives," he jerks his head in Nightwing's direction. "So I'll find you. Soon, okay? I promise. I can find you now. And when there's a little more proof and trust and -- when there's more of that, then you can find me. Cool?"

Hood scoffs. "'Course we know where you live, batbrain. You're not exactly inconspicuous." More like Jason knows where Dick lives--because if Mitz knew, if he'd ever been there and seen these two, he'd've known Jerel in an instant.

Nightwing sighs and rubs his face. "Of course you do. Of course you do." He sounds tired.

Mitz moves forward so he can touch Jerel's shoulder, but he's reaching; he doesn't want to get too close to Nightwing, like being devoted to Batman is catching. "See you around, okay, I mean it. I promise," he says quietly.